THE wait is over.
Champion pacer Leap To Fame is healthy again, flying and will return to racing at Albion Park on Saturday night.
Trainer-driver Grant Dixon was thrilled with the six-year-old’s sparkling Albion Park trial last Friday and confirmed Leap To Fame would head to Victoria to defend his Group 1 Hunter Cup title at Melton on February 1.
“It was a strong trial and he felt as though he could’ve gone much quicker,” Dixon said. “His heart rate was great after it, which shows his fitness.
“With the (Albion Park) run under his belt this week, that might be all his needs to prime him for the Hunter Cup.
“The way the travel works, he will be in Melbourne 10 days before the Hunter Cup, so there’s the option to give him a run down there the week before, but it’s in the plans at the moment.
“We’ll finalise everything after he races this week.”
Leap To Fame, a winner of 44 races and almost $3.25 million, hasn’t raced since a lingering throat infection sidelined him following a Menangle win on October 26.
The setback forced him out of three of the sport’s biggest races, the Victoria and NZ Cups, along with a defence of his Inter Dominion crown in NSW last month.
“Everything looks like that (setback) is behind him now, but it’s always in the back of your mind something could still be lingering, so this race will be important,” Dixon said.
Last year, Leap To Fame won the Hunter Cup, Cranbourne Cup, Newcastle Mile and Miracle Mile in the space of five weeks and as part of a 13-race winning streak.
Dixon said a replica program was on the cards again.
“If we’re in Melbourne, it just makes sense to stay and do Cranbourne,” he said. “Then, it worked well to go to Newcastle last year to qualify him for the Miracle Mile.
“There’s been some talk Newcastle may not be a (Miracle Mile) qualifier this year, but it still seems to be and that’s certainly our preferred pathway.”
In another huge boost, Auckland Cup winner Republican Party will also chase the Hunter Cup.
Co-trainer Cran Dalgety confirmed the five-year-old would be on a flight to Melbourne on Wednesday for what will likely be a three-race Victorian campaign.
Surprisingly, Dalgety said Republican Party would then return home rather than head to Sydney for a tilt at the Miracle Mile.
“He’s earned a go at Melbourne. He’s taken that next step from a nice horse to one who will be competitive with the very best,” Dalgety said.
“We’d love to have a go at the Ballarat Cup this week given it’s worth $100,000, but we just feel racing three days after he gets there isn’t the best thing for him.
“So, we’ll wait the extra week and have our lead-up run in the Casey Classic and go onto the Hunter Cup the week after.
“All going well, the Cranbourne Cup is worth $100,000 and it’s the week after (the Hunter Cup).”
Republican Party is a pint-sized star and Dalgety believes his stature was the main reason for not staying in Australia for the Miracle Mile.
“We just feel, on that big track at the Menangle, the best horse could monster him a bit,” he said.
“We’ll go home after Melbourne and set out sights on trying to get him a partner (slot) for the big Cambridge race.”
Republican Party will add to the strong Kiwi flavour in the Hunter Cup with Tact McLeod already in Victoria and Dont Stop Dreaming heading across, too.
Tact McLeod, who ran second in last week’s Bendigo Cup, ruined his chance as a $2.10 favourite in last night’s Shepparton Cup when he galloped at the start. He recovered to run fifth.
The race was won by NSW raider Kanena Provlima, who ran second in the Cup last year.
It was a race of extreme controversy with Captain Hammerhead first across the line, but disqualified because stewards deemed trainer-driver David Moran “hocked” the horse, which is using a foot to contact the hind legs of the horse, in the closing stages.
* Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
